Paralympic archer Matt Stutzman gripped the bow handle between two thickly callused toes and pulled the arrow back with a release aid strapped to his body.

He moved his jaw slightly to trigger the mechanical aid attached to the string and let fly a shaft that popped a balloon with ease that would have impressed Robin Hood.

It was a short distance for a man who won a world record for the longest-accurate shot by any archer, with an arrow that struck a target 230-yards away.

But the feat on Thursday drew cheers from a crowd of disabled people enrolled in programs at Laradon school in Globeville.

The 32-year-old Iowan, who was born without arms, demonstrated a similar ease when he gave a light-hearted description of a life filled with challenge, and answered questions from an audience all too familiar with confronting obstacles.

In the small rural community where he grew up, he said, he learned to drive early. “The only accident I was in was when they hit me because they were staring at my feet.”

Stutzman, who won silver for his shooting in the London Summer Paralympic Games in 2012, told the crowd that dealing with disability is not always easy, even for someone who can compete on a worldwide stage.

He lives day by day, he said, and when he is down, realizes that he is alive, has a wife and three children, and doesn’t have to sink into negativity.

Stacey Brown, 39, manager of the special needs school’s adult program, said that many of her students who have Down syndrome, autism and other disabilities go to work each day.

Stutzman showed them that a disabled person can be successful, Brown said.

Growing up, Stutzman played soccer, and his ability to kick earned him a spot on a football team. He also played basketball. “I was pretty good. I couldn’t dribble very well, and people could take the ball away from me. But I could score a three-pointer,” he said, demonstrating how he gripped the ball against his chest with the stumps that jut from his shoulders, and toss it to the basket.

He learned to use a bow and arrow in 2010, when he was out of work and having trouble finding a job.

He had grown up hunting with a gun, and was able to feed a growing family with venison. But it wasn’t rifle season. “I didn’t have time to wait until I could get a deer.”

His father bought him a bow, and he began practicing.

A short time later, he and a friend went to an archery tournament, where he competed against typical competitors.

“Two days later, a bow manufacturer called and said, ‘We want to sponsor you,’ and I said, ‘If they are going to give me a free bow, I can sell my other one and feed my family.’ “

From then on he spent eight hours a day shooting the bow from his front porch.

In 2011, a coach called and asked him to try out for the U.S. archery team. Later that year, he was asked to try out for the Paralympic team.

His shooting qualified him for trials in London.

His score put him only one point away from the U.S. record earned by an archer with two arms, he said.

Representing the U.S. in the Paralympics was a thrill, he said.

When American archers compete in the U.S., they are shooting for themselves, he said.

“When you get on a plane and you have U.S. (stitched) on your back,” he said, “you are not shooting for yourself anymore.”

A general assignment reporter for The Denver Post, Tom McGhee has covered business, police, courts, higher education and breaking news. He came to The Post from Albuquerque, N.M., where he worked for a year and a half covering utilities. He began his journalism career in New York City, worked for a pair of community weeklies that covered the west side of Manhattan from 14th Street to 125th Street.

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